Scores of BC birthing hostels advertised in China

Fancy advertisements for so called “birthing hostels” are luring pregnant women women from China to give birth to their babies on Canadian soil, promising the mothers a convenient, comfortable and healthy way to give their children Canadian citizenship.

We found hundreds of ads for package deals offered by birthing hostels on 58.com, China’s most popular classified site[1]http://g.58.com/j-glvancouver/glyuesao/.

With names such as “Bei Bei Center”, “Red Maple Leaf” and “Angel Baby”, the services these hostels offer include: tourist visa for the mother, airport transfer, specially prepared meals, and customized prenatal care, a ride to the hospital with a translator “auntie”, postpartum care and all the paperwork for the child.

The business has become so sophisticated that some birth hostels even choose to incorporate in British Columbia, as is the case with “Icy Consulting Ltd.”[2]http://archive.is/tIQZ9

Some even had elaborate websites highlighting all they had to offer.[3]http://www.vanmomlovebaby.com/index.php

All the birthing hostels we found were in Richmond, BC, with some ads even referring to the Metro Vancouver city as a “Chinese City”.

Documents released under a Freedom of Information Act request show that BC’s Health ministry investigation unit is aware of the problem and cost the taxpayers $693,869.20 in the 2014-2015 fiscal year for unpaid hospital bills.[4]http://docs.openinfo.gov.bc.ca/Response_Package_HTH-2015-51538.pdf

Last year, a group of Canadian citizens launched an official House of Commons petition[5]https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-397 asking the government to eliminate jus soli, or birthright citizenship, as means of stopping birth tourism.

“The practice of ‘Birth Tourism’ can be very costly to taxpayers since it is used to ensure that after the child reaches 18 years of age Canada’s education system can be used at a publicly subsidised cost, and he/she can sponsor his/her parents and many other family members, thus taking advantage of Canada’s public health system and social security programmes such as OAS and the GIS,” the petition read.

The government rejected the petition on the grounds that “while there may be instances of expectant mothers who are foreign nationals who travel to Canada to give birth, requiring that a parent be a citizen or permanent resident in order for their child to acquire citizenship through birth in Canada would represent a significant change to how Canadian citizenship is acquired.”

None of the birthing hostel operators we reached out to responded to our requests for comment.

ThinkPol needs your help to keep going. While other media outlets are content reproducing industry press releases, we carry out painstaking data analysis, spending hours obtaining, and then combing through the data. And the data isn’t free. Each court record and land title search costs us $12. Each corporate record costs us $7.

12 Responses to Scores of BC birthing hostels advertised in China

Because there are too many immigrants to Canada. The majority do not want these levels of immigrants and certainly not so many from China — as opposed to say Africa. We want lower levels of racially balanced immigration that doesn’t take jobs away from Canadians, amongst other things. And what you have here is clearly immigration fraud — where Chinese women are abusing the lax Canadian immigration system.

Immigration itself isnt taking meaningful jobs away from Canadians because first of all, these chinese women have little to no marketable skills meaning they will have a much tougher time finding a decent job compared to a native Canadian, and second of all the child born in Canada isnt taking any jobs away because he or she is simply going to school. The child is Canadian now and when he or she turns 18 and gets a job, he or she will simply be a Canadian with a job… Being a Canadian is not an ethnicity like Caucasion or African American or Chinese, its a Nationality.

I’ve been travelling the globe over the past couple years and one thing that has become clear is that Canada is one of, if not the least racist places on the planet. The other thing that is clear is that the mainland Chinese are possibly the most racist culture. It’s interesting that almost every country I visit the locals complain about the Chinese, especially in South East Asia. One common complaint is a lack of respect shown to the locals and their culture and the Chinese sense of superiority, which is the very definition of racism. This is ironic since the first thing the Chinese do when they don’t get their way, is to cry ‘racism’…mostly because it usually works.

Mr. Wong, why are Chinese so racist? I married into a Chinese family and they are the most racist, entitled people I have ever met–they say things so shockingly racist that would make the average, white Canadian “small time” racist cringe. So, nice try.

This is insane. The Canadian taxpayer is footing the medical bills of Chinese women who are gaming the rules to get Canadian citizenship for their newborns.

Exactly what is the benefit to Canadians in this? And what exactly is the inherent sanctity of a rule that says anyone who pops a baby on Canadian soil gets to call it a Canadian?

The Canadian health plan is being abused. Canadian citizenship is being abused. Canadian immigration rules are being abused. And Canadian generosity is being abused. What does it take for our government to actually act in a way that benefits Canadians, and not foreigners who want to exploit us?

The point of this is not to just get Canadian citizenship for the child, but later when the child is an adult they can sponsor the parents for citizenship. It is an abuse of the Canadian citizenship system and it should be stopped.